Chapter Fifty-Seven
Feralyn
Reflecting the ocean, his eyes more blue than I had ever seen them, he gripped the side of my face, brought his lips almost to mine, and his voice turned to gravel.
“You and me, Feralyn, we’re deep. Soul fucking deep.
” Gripping me tighter, he practically shook me.
“Come on, Haven.” All of his dominance bled into a demand. “Surrender to me.”
Stunned speechless, floating entranced in his protective arms, staring at an assaulter who assaulted, death and beauty comingled, and it happened.
My mind submitted, and I saw it clearly, like a captured image through the lens of my camera. A whole lifetime of images.
Me and Helios. Together.
Soul fucking deep.
Then in the next second, a swell lobbed us up, his grasp slipped, we broke apart, and bright sun blinded me. I turned away from the glare.
Helios yanked the cord he’d been hanging on to.
His jaw ticked, and a life raft popped open, inflating like a beacon of survival…
And a burst bubble.
Without saying a word, he unhooked my harness from his, lifted my upper body into the raft, then unceremoniously shoved my legs up and over the side.
I landed on inflated plastic, rolled onto my back, and sank into the middle.
With the sheer strength his muscled body afforded him, as if he’d done the same maneuver thousands of times, Helios leveraged himself over the side of the raft and swung his legs in.
Then he rotated into a seated position, avoided eye contact, and reached for the dry sack that was on board, pulling it next to him.
Staring at him like a strung-out junkie, I fixated on every one of his movements for the symphony of expertise they were.
Assaulter, protector, plane crasher, life raft procurer.
I wanted to capture every one of his breaths through the lens of my camera. But I wanted to feel every beat of his heart under the palm of my hand.
You and me, Feralyn, we’re deep.
He would kill to protect me and die to save me.
And I would bend every neuron just to fit against him.
That anger creasing Helios’s brow, the rigid set of his jaw—it wasn’t anger at all. It was the resolute drive of his doggedness. It was his unyielding determination, his brand of loyalty, his personal code of honor. It was Helios.
And it was his love language.
I couldn’t hold the words in anymore. “Helios, I—”
Fast and powerful, a giant speedboat came out of nowhere, whipping toward the raft and making a sharp turn at the last minute before the throttle cut. The raft bounced on a wake, then landed at the starboard side of the boat.
Nix “Phoenix” Erikson was at the helm. “Injuries?”
“Negative.” As if he’d known Nix was coming, Helios tossed him a rope from the raft.
Nix caught the line and tied it to his speedboat. “Phenom?”
“Sunk.” Grabbing me under my arms, Helios held me up to Nix. “Get her on board.”
“Copy that.” Bracing a knee on a bench seat, Nix lifted me up and onto his boat as easily as Helios had handed me off, but then he eyed Helios. “Critical fuel loss?”
“You’re insured.” Helios boarded the speedboat.
“Right.” Nix untied the line.
Helios flipped open his pocketknife, reached over the side of the speedboat, and made large slashes in the life raft before bunching the material together to get the air out. Then he shoved it under the surface.
“You know…” Nix casually tipped his chin toward the raft. “Your stepbrother did the same thing six months ago.”
“Fuck Ghost, and fuck off.” Pocketing his knife, Helios leaned back on the bench seat across from me.
All three of us were silent as we watched the life raft sink into nonexistence.
Then Nix pulled out a thick towel from a compartment, handed it to me, and looked pointedly at Helios. “Where to?”
Helios didn’t miss a beat. “Woman’s choice.”
Two warfighters turned their entire focus on me.
One standing at the helm. One soaking wet, awash in bright sunlight, leaned back on a pristine bench seat with his arms outstretched, biceps bulging, looking how he always looked—intense.
But I saw the extra rigidity in his jaw, the way his muscles were taut.
A brand-new anxiety feathered across my chilled skin, and goose bumps raced for real estate.
Helios had never played fair. He didn’t play at all. He calculated, he battled, he fought, he dominated. But he did not surrender.
And he wasn’t surrendering now.
He was waging war.
Do you want a new life with me, or do you want to be on your own?
Forcing me to make a decision, the very one he’d orchestrated, he sat there staring, and suddenly, every one of his perfect soul deep words weren’t perfect at all.
I looked out at the deep blue ocean I could have died in. “Home.”
“We’re ninety miles from Miami. Five from the Paragon.” Nix glanced at Helios. “I can tender you to Miami or take you back to the ship and you can helo to shore.”
Fear gripped me. “No helicopter.”
“Copy that.” Nix pushed the throttle and turned the speedboat around.
Seconds later, we were flying across the ocean, and it struck me.
Helios hadn’t said a word.